Fire and smoke enveloped the morning sky, blotting out the sun and drowning out the light as the Crimson forest was set ablaze. The Consortium, which had long since planned to make its move, had finally taken the first step towards the girl's annihilation.
"Guys, wait!" Lila screamed, trying to point towards the oncoming line of Daregen, who began to unleash their fiery payload into the forest. "Just stop! Look!"
Rena continued to assault Ivy, her weapon clashing against the heiress's staff as she propelled herself through the air with a Psionic push.
"You think this is supposed to move me? A little flame? It's nothing compared to what your father did to my home. What his monsters did to our people!"
Ivy ignored her, realizing how little even an apology would mean at that point. All she truly had to focus on was winning the fight before it was too late. Moreover, the heiress felt she had nothing to prove to Rena.
Her family had made their choice long ago. Good or evil, it didn't matter to Ivy. She was still one of them, and she would fight to become more than just a worthless sack of meat. Such motivation had already begun to blind her, even from Lila.
Rena tossed her charkam at Ivy, using her Psionic ability to make the weapon intangiable, allowing it to phase right through Ivy's guard. But she wasn't the only one with tricks. Using her grasp on the chakram, Ivy redirected its ethereal form back at Rena before it could re-emerge inside of her body.
Rena retrieved her weapon, only to be forced back into hiding as a silver baton came hurling towards her face. She attempted to relocate inside her intangible state, but Ivy kept the spinning baton deep within her enemy's ghostly body, preventing her reemergence. Rena sneered loudly before retreating into the foliage.
"Hmph." Ivy fumed.
But before the heiress could gloat any further, a large metal round struck her in the back, followed by a deafening crack and a trail of disturbed leaves. She collapsed in pain, realizing it was the Consoritum who shot her in the back.
"Ooh, mama!" Lila squealed, barely dodging a similar attack using her enhanced senses.
Far behind the Daregen stood a squad of Psion snipers, gleefully using the cleared foliage and their keen gaze to target the girls with their long rifles. With her Psionic ambience reduced, Ivy barely had enough time to recover before Rena returned and tackled her to the ground.
"Just...die!" Rena raised her weapon high up into the air as she prepared to plunge it downwards.
Lila was faster.
After a brief flash of magenta light, Rena found herself disarmed, her weapon having been nicked right as her hand came crashing down on Ivy's face. The heiress hissed like a snake before returning the favor as her eyes glowed red. Rena sailed backwards, smashing through a tree in the process.
"Lila!" Ivy gasped, realizing who had aided her.
A red mark blinded her, forcing the heiress to realize she had a sniper's dot on her forehead. But just before she could lose her face, Lila appeared from behind the Psion with Rena's chakram, slicing it in half.
"I am le sneaky." Lila spoke in her best attempt at a French accent, clearly trying to lighten her spirits out of desperation.
The Daregen flametroopers reeled around in shock, suprised to see how easily the Psionic girl had zipped past their lines. By the time they could spew their flames at the girl, she was already gone.
Lila breathed a sigh of relief as she sped back towards Ivy, looping around the Daregen as they did their best to track her movements. "Okay, now I just have to-."
Before she could finish, Rena appeared from behind a boulder to grab her by the throat. "I won't let you stop me."
Lila's feet dangled in the air as she gasped for breath, her stolen weapon having already made its way back to its owner. She tried to plead with Rena, but after one look in her eyes, she knew her chances were spent.
"Wait!" Lila choked. "Don't! Please!"
Rena pushed the girl back into the Daregen's flames, extending her hold over Lila with a Psionic grasp. Proving her insanity once and for all, she held Lila there, knowing full well she would be burned to a crisp.
"Wait..." Rena paused, realizing what she had done upon hearing the first of Lila's desperate screams. "No!"
She clutched her temples, her mind filled with a darkness she could not yet understand. It was far easier to blame Ivy and avenge her family than to face that abyss. But burning Lila alive was a step too far.
"Ack!" Lila gasped as she was pulled back to safety.
"I...Lila, I'm so sorry..." Rena sobbed. "I didn't mean to-."
"Just lock the fuck in, girly," Lila groaned, pushing aside her feelings on the matter. "Please. For my sake."
Rena nodded in agreement, just before a silver staff struck her in the face. She reeled backwards, blood flowing from a gash on her face. The fight was still on.
It was hopeless even as their enemies crowded all around them.
Lila spun around like a frightened mouse, confused and bewildered by what had happened. She couldn't even raise a hand to protest before an explosion of napalm threw her off her feet. Her Psionic ambience was quickly overwhelmed, dissapating in a flash of magenta as she crawled away from the burning substance.
"Ivy!" Lila cried out, her voice containing honest fear.
The heiress was nowhere to be found.
On the verge of tears, Lila became lost in the rising tide of smoke. She cried out one last time before a Daregen appeared behind her, its massive flaming wrist blade whizzing right over her head as the girl ducked out of the way.
She was on her own.
Rena ignored the chaos as she wiped the blood off her face, completely unfazed by the turn of events. "Come here, you princess bitch." She snarled as she turned to Ivy, whom she had managed to locate amid the smoke and ash.
Ivy threw out her staff once more, but in a flash of Psionic energy, her own weapon had become intangible, leaving her nearly defenseless for Rena's counter attack.
"Ah!" Ivy screamed out in pain, her baton unable to fully block Rena's chakram as it cut into her leg.
The heiress fell backwards, her eyes darting around in a desperate attempt to find an edge over Rena. Luckily for her, by the time her foe managed to swoop in for the final hit, a nearby Daregen just so happened to blindly launch another ball of napalm near her vicinity.
Ivy reached out, grabbing hold of the flaming munition before redirecting its trajectory and slamming it into Rena just before she could finish the heiress. The ensuing explosion knocked both girls clear and into the blinding smoke. Having finally earned herself a moment of reprieve, Ivy struggled to move.
"L-lila." Ivy coughed, realizing how little she could breathe in the smoke around her. "W-where are you?"
Ashamed how easily she had forgotten her friend, Ivy began to limp her way into a retreat, her leg still badly wounded by Rena's attack. Her assailant, who wasn't handling the smoke any better, committed herself to a withdrawal as well. Rena was content with herself for the time being, especially after managing to injure the heiress.
"Now you know...how it feels." Rena panted as she crawled away from the Consortium's advancing line.
- - - - - - - - - -
"See how they run?" Omizen clasped his hands togethor as he looked down at his holographic map. "Have faith in my plan, Yrix."
"You still haven't felled a single one." The Arch-Flayer shrugged. "Pick one already."
"Hmm." Omizen looked carefully. "There is one. She's made a fool of our troops twice now."
Pressing a glowing button on the map, Omizen revealed live footage of Lila, who had become properly identified by his vessel's scanners. There she was, ducking and weaving under the flame trooper's attacks, all the while pilfering and sabotaging their weapons for her own personal gain.
It was impressive. And Omizen had noticed.
"That one."
Yrix's eye twitched. "Lila?"
"At first, I had imagined the radiant knight would make a good pick. But this Lila..."
"You can't stand the notion that she'd be faster than you." Yrix sighed.
"No," Omizen replied with a stern look, gesturing for his crew to stand at attention. "I can't. Prepare my shuttle."
Yrix shrugged, looking down at the battlefield with her far superior Psionic gaze. She may have been enamored by Lila's increased potential, but what really caught her ire was the battle between Ivy and Rena. Whatever that feud was really about, it was making one of them exponentially stronger.
"Fight." Yrix giggled with ecstasy. "Fight my daughters. Show me who you really are."
In a flash of purple energy, Yrix dissapeared from sight. She was done standing on the sidelines of her own trial.